There Is Time
by Lyaksandra
Summary: Booker DeWitt realizes that what he owes his daughter may be much more than what he is about to accomplish. If all the suffering Comstock can cause has already been left in his wake, then there may actually be time to mend his relationship with Anna.


**THERE IS TIME  
**

This was it. Booker DeWitt could sense that his reckoning was at hand, and he knew in the core of his being that he had to go through with it no matter what. The very moment he laid his gaze upon the wooden door, he somehow recognized it would be different than the rest. The other doors had had no special features, but this one… it looked too much like the door he had gone through when first traveling to Columbia. Even the hastily scribbled hand-written note was there.

_Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt._

How ironic, because in a sense he had in fact brought the girl back here, even though he now knew better about that particular memory of his.

One deep breath was all the preparation he made, and then he placed his hand on the door, ready to push it open and face whatever was behind it. However, that was as far as Booker went, for at that very moment, Elizabeth's hand appeared beside his. This made him take pause and turn his eyes toward her in search for an explanation. He had thought they were in this together. The girl had shown the utmost conviction just minutes before, so why was she hesitating at the cusp of their journey?

"Booker…" Elizabeth whispered his name as if it was something that could easily be broken by the sound of her voice. Her tone was so serious that the word sounded almost strange in her lips.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" She added immediately afterward.

Elizabeth had said the last part loud and clearly enough for him to hear, but still, somehow the words did not fully register in Booker's head. His attention had been captured by something else. There had been something in the expression of her eyes, and though it had been fleeting, there was no denying that he had actually seen it. Even if for the longest time since they walked into this place of infinite lighthouses Elizabeth had worn an expression on her face so serious that it was almost as if she were a different person, this had been different. It was too much of a contrast against her usually jovial mien. Furthermore, the actual tone of voice the girl had used to utter the words had been colored by a sort of fear and longing. How could he disregard it?

Then again, Booker was a soldier, forged in fires fueled by the suffering of hundreds. He could not just walk away. So, he instinctively made a grab for the girl's hand in order to pull it away and march through the door. Whatever Elizabeth was worrying about, it was no matter, not when they had come so far, achieved so much. Comstock had to disappear from all of reality, and Booker would see to that no matter what. Or so he thought.

He never did open the door. The feeling of Elizabeth's small, delicate hand wrapped inside his larger and calloused one brought him to a full stop. It was so warm, and even though Booker knew the strength her elegant fingers concealed within, he could not help feeling that at the same time they were so very frail. The girl those fingers belonged to, she had never had someone to look after her, not properly. For more than two decades, she had had a warden, not a protector, and she had known only control, never actual safety. It was then that Booker DeWitt realized that he owed Elizabeth… no, Anna—his daughter—much more than just retribution. He owed her time, a life… he owed her a father.

Without letting go of the girl's hand, Booker stared directly into her beautiful blue eyes. Those eyes that could shift just as the heavens above. Clear and of a bottomless depth at times, while dark and turbulent at others. Little by little it became more and more obvious that this girl so full of earnest curiosity for the world around her, so eager to apply all the knowledge she had accumulated while locked away in Monument Island, deserved everything he could give her. His choice was made. He would walk through this door, he already had, and he was doing it right now. There was no changing that fact—he knew it was to become one of the constants—but he could change the circumstances, and the time of the event.

Still holding Anna's gaze, Booker gave her hand a gentle squeeze in an attempt to reassure her. "Yes, I'm sure. But it doesn't have to be right now. We will come back here later, there's no need to rush right now."

For a moment, he felt fear take hold of his heart, tightening around his chest and throat. Fortunately, it did not last, as Anna replied by squeezing his hand in return before they let go of each other. And when in his relief Booker let out a tiny sigh, he was glad to see his daughter's gaze softening, and the beginnings of a smile stretching her full, pink lips. Already he could feel a warm calmness washing all over his tired body, granting him a long deserved reprieve. Anna could see what lay behind each and every door, and if this new arrangement did not sour the whole deal—whatever that was—then everything was going to be well.

"Paris?" He suddenly asked while smiling widely.

"Paris." Anna agreed with a slight nod after releasing a breath that seemed to have been held in her chest for the longest time.

Booker saw her trying to return his smile, however, the tears were plainly visible as they welled inside her eyes. Unable to stop himself at such a sight, Booker moved close to his daughter and in a swift motion seized her shoulders with his hands, pulling her into a tight embrace. Without hesitation, Anna buried her face in his chest and began crying openly, her arms snaking around his waist to reciprocate the hug. When Booker felt her small body shaking against his, and her hands holding onto his shirt as if it were a life-line, the tears he had also been trying to hold back simply spilled over. His daughter had been so strong on her own for a very long time. It was high-time for him to pay his dues.

Even though it seemed impossible, Booker tightened his embrace even further and leaned forward to kiss the crown of Anna's head. "I'm here now, Anna." He whispered against her hair, closing his eyes and reveling for a moment in its exquisite softness and smell.

When he opened his eyes again, a thought crossed his mind as he saw the countless tiny lights scintillating above them. Their circle was finally unbroken, and as long as they had each other, there was no need to look for a better home in the sky.

**FIN**


End file.
